‘Chemical fingerprint’ shows 46% of wood samples certified as sustainable did not come from labelled country of origin
Nearly half of birch wood certified by leading sustainability schemes is misidentified and does not come from the labelled country of origin, according to new testing. The analysis raises fears that large quantities of sanctioned wood from Russia and Belarus are still illegally entering Britain.
New research by World Forest ID, a consortium of research organisations that includes Kew Gardens and the World Resources Institute, scrutinised the accuracy of dozens of harvesting-origin claims on birch products, which had almost entirely been approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) sustainability schemes.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/23/2025 - 01:00
04/23/2025 - 00:00
Labour must deliver the green transition voters want, leaving Reform and the Tories on the side of economic decline and dictators
Which former British prime minister described the climate emergency as “a clock ticking to the furious rhythm of hundreds of billions of pistons and turbines and furnaces and engines … quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”?
The florid style gives it away. You’d guess Boris Johnson even if you’d forgotten that the master of Brexit bombast also had a sideline in net zero evangelism. It wasn’t the most memorable part of his repertoire and it didn’t catch on as a Conservative catechism.
Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist
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04/22/2025 - 23:00
An ashen pallor and an eerie stillness all that remains where there should fluttering fish and vibrant colours in the reefscape, one conservationist says
The world’s coral reefs have been pushed into “uncharted territory” by the worst global bleaching event on record that has now hit more than 80% of the planet’s reefs, scientists have warned.
Reefs in at least 82 countries and territories have been exposed to enough heat to turn corals white since the global event started in January 2023, the latest data from the US government’s Coral Reef Watch shows.
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04/22/2025 - 23:00
Ocean-inspired artworks created using kelp-based pigment will be sold to raise funds for conservation
Last year in early summer, Alex Glasgow could be seen hauling up a long string of orangey-black seaweed on to the barge of his water farm, located off the west coast of Scotland near Skye. Growing on the farm was what Glasgow described as “perhaps the quickest-growing biomass on the planet”: seaweed.
The weed from Glasgow’s farm, KelpCrofters, is used in everything from soil fertiliser to artisanal soaps to glass-making and is part of a burgeoning industry – not just in Scotland, but around the world.
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04/22/2025 - 22:05
Dozens of miniature horses and their human running mates have taken part in the Great Northern Gallop, an adventure race through dense forests and across rugged beaches in New Zealand’s Far North. Participants run or walk 100km over four days for the event, which raises money for the welfare of miniature horses
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04/22/2025 - 10:48
Presenter believes decision was taken due to the technology’s link with net zero after he was told he risked accusations of political bias
The BBC presenter Evan Davis has been told he can no longer host a podcast about heat pumps due to the corporation’s concerns that discussing the technology risks “treading on areas of public controversy”.
The presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM programme had hosted 20 episodes of the Happy Heat Pump Podcast, which launched in 2024. It has covered issues around installing the technology, the cost, noise levels and the alternatives for people replacing their gas boilers.
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04/22/2025 - 08:56
Former VP said the administration was creating its ‘own preferred reality’ and slammed it for green energy U-turn
Al Gore said there were “important lessons” to be learned from similarities between the early rise of Nazi Germany and the recent actions of the Trump administration, in scathing comments made Monday during remarks about climate change.
During a speech at an event to mark the beginning of San Francisco’s Climate Week, the former vice-president and established climate advocate, said that the Trump administration was “trying to create their own preferred version of reality”, akin to the Nazi party during the 1930s in Germany, Politico reported.
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04/22/2025 - 08:56
Blocking sunlight could temporarily slow the climate crisis but the technologies remain highly controversial
UK scientists are to launch outdoor geoengineering experiments as part of a £50m government-funded programme.
The experiments will be small-scale and rigorously assessed, according to Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria), the UK government agency backing the plan, and will provide “critical” data needed to assess the potential of the technology. The programme, along with another £11m project, will make the UK one of the biggest funders of geoengineering research in the world.
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04/22/2025 - 07:00
As temperatures rise and countries back off their decarbonization efforts, we must confront a reality central banks can’t correct
Inflation is, at base, a tax on consumption – and it hits the poor the hardest, since they consume more of their incomes and the rich consume less.
That’s one reason for concern over Donald Trump’s tariffs, which will disproportionately affect the poor. When the 90-day pause on the tariffs expires, it is reasonable to expect prices to rise, and by a lot.
Mark Blyth is a political economist and professor at Brown University. Nicolò Fraccaroli is a visiting scholar at Brown University. The views expressed here are the writers’ own and not their institutions’
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04/22/2025 - 06:22
White-faced darters transported to South Solway Mosses as hotter summers dry out its bog pool breeding sites
With its chalk-white face and bright flame-coloured markings, the white-faced darter dragonfly is a distinctive sight as it flutters around England’s peat bogs.
The rare dragonfly, which breeds in mossy pools, is at threat of local extinction, but now conservationists are trying to end its population crash by introducing it into a remote corner of Cumbria.
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